Day 4

Bloggers and iPadders at work. Sheraton foyer.
 

On the hotel shuttle, en route to the train.

On Chit Lom Skytrain station, our enfant terrible spied a shop called "Ann-E-bra", and of course, HAD to make a statement.

Recovering from lunch and packing for England.

Peter discovered that there were peacocks near the pool, so off he went ....

... and there it was!

A meeting of minds? (Peacocks are very intelligent)

Happy hour at the Sheraton .....

... then off to the airport.

 

 

BA10 to London

And of course, the Thais had the last word. 

Day 3 last bits

Sorry everyone. We've had some problems getting the photos on. Hopefully normal service will be resumed as soon as ........

As we left the very long Buddha, it all became too much for some of the party. (I blame Anne as Cathy is usually a stable sort of person, and we've all seen what Anne can get up to)

Paul with a very thin Pole

The absence of any chimneys leads to a suspicion that this is a nuclear power station. The reason the picture is included in the blog is so that O'Loughlin can stuff up the pronunciation of NUCLEAR!

A Thai bridge. Either it's unfinished or they should shoot the designer.

Anne and Peter ignoring the bridge in question.

Paul in front of your actual Thai bridge.

The Temple of Dawn

Cathy still recovering from the elephant episode, and Peter obviously relieved.

Cathy and Paul having shoe problems.

Day 3

Actually, this is day 2, after dinner at Nahm we went to the Vertigo Bar, on top of the Banyan Tree hotel. It's on the 60th floor or so, but the bar prices are higher

Still at the Vertigo Bar

River traffic. Actually I set my alarm for 6 am (we were going to Auhythia) but the phone was still on Australian time. Lept out of bed, showered, dressed and then looked at the hotel clock - 3 am!

In the bus

Looking at our first Wat the easy way

The buildings were very beautiful

Anne and Paul and a leaning stranger

 Perhaps this padoga is leaning as well, but

I refuse to develop the Pisa theme.

Inside the Chinese house everything was beautiful and calm, and then ..........

... Anne sighted some low bushes which turned out not to be bushes at all, but replica elephants!

Anne could barely restrain herself .....

... and then she even stopped trying to do so.

The king's guard was called out, and ....

... even though they marched very quickly, there was no stopping her.

Some time later, Anne appeared to be calm again, and had no recollection of her relapse

More of us at more wats

A mixture of new and old padogas

Peter is in this photo just for cover - it's the mobile-wielding monk that's the subject

A very long Buddha.

Days 1-2 completed

Here's the commuter ferry. Anne was VERY brave clambering in and out of it.

This lady spends her life pulling silk out of par-boiled worms. She looks charming, but I wouldn't trust her an inch.

Anne felt this needed noticing.

In Jim Thompson's garden

Our first sighting of pachyderms. I have a horrible feeling that this will not be the last of them... Anne was SO restrained on the first day.

 

Days 1-2

Against all advice (from Essendon supporters) we started our trip at the Swans-Essendon game at the SCG. If you don't know the result, check the smiles - even on Steve Waugh


Exhausted after supporting the Swannies

At Kingsford-Smith. Neither Anne or I are a bit scared

That's not our plane, although it looks a little like it, although we're in an Airbus 330 and not a Boeing 747, BUT the wing in the foreground is all ours.

Aforesaid wing somewhere over Indonesia

Peter making an entrance into Thailand

...and we finally got all our gear together.

Checked in and out to dinner

 

The view from our rooms. A constant flow of ferries, barges, flotsam and jetsam.

Breakfast on the river

Anne and Peter in the luxurious hotel boat that is taking us to Saphin Taxin railway station.

However, we exchanged the train for a tuk-tuk which was driven by a madman. At one point in this ride, we were passing a taxi, on the wrong side of the road with traffic approaching, when a motorbike overtook US!

 

We then took the public ferry down one of the klongs .....

.... with a raisable plastic sheet to stop the splashes from other boats ...

.... only to be dumped on the shore, leading to a whole re-structure of the timetable.

After all this, we had lunch at Rosa Biang (a lovely Thai restaurant on Sukhumvit) and then went to Jim Thompson's house. But that's another story ...